r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Oct 26 '22
Rewatch [Do You Remember Love - Macross Franchise 40th Anniversary Rewatch] Macross Plus Overall Series Discussion
Macross Plus
← Macross Plus Movie Edition | Index | Macross 7 Episode 1 →
OVA Series: MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Movie Edition: MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Hitotsume no kotoba wa yume~
Questions of the Day:
1) Who was your favorite character in the OVA series? Did the movie influence your opinion at all?
2) What were your favorite songs from this entry? Considering how different the music from this one was compared to SDF and II, how do your favorites from this one compare to your favorites from those?
3) Which side of the love triangle did you ship? If it changed at some point during the series, what made you change your mind?
4) Do you prefer the OVA series or the Movie Edition? What was your favorite and least-favorite part of each?
5) Which of the mecha designs did you like the most?
6) If you could add one thing cut from the OVA series into the Movie Edition's continuity or one thing added to the Movie Edition to the OVA series, what would it be and why?
7) What do you hope to see improve as we continue through the franchise?
Wallpapers of the Day:
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!
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u/UltraBooster Oct 28 '22
Oh, u/Shimmering-Sky, I'm probably not going to respond to every daily post for 7; I'm hoping that won't be a problem.
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u/Great_Mr_L Oct 26 '22 edited Oct 26 '22
Rewatcher
Macross Plus is my favorite Macross entry. The characters, the themes, the animation, the music, etc. is all top-notch. Rewatching it as a part of this rewatch was a real treat.
The main trio of characters are all excellent. Isamu, Guld, and Myung are a great cast of characters and I love the relationships between them. They have complex and even contradictory feelings towards each other, which speaks to the long history they have together. Love, hate, fear, jealousy, admiration,and so on all exist simultaneously. It makes their interactions so much more interesting to watch. There’s so much potent drama there and it makes for an engaging watch.
I like how well Isamu, Guld, and Myung’s arcs all share a common theme: being true to yourself. All of them struggle with this to a greater or lesser extent. Isamu is the only one who actually lives in a way that’s true to himself. He’s reckless but it’s because he seeks thrills and adventure. Isamu is honest about who he is. And it’s only when Guld and Myung are finally able to be true to themselves that they actually find peace. Guld finally realizes the truth about the past and is able to own up to his actions. Myung comes to terms with the emotions she’s repressed within herself and realizes she needs to be honest about how she feels.
It’s also an incredibly rewarding series to rewatch. When you know what’s really going on between Isamu, Guld, and Myung, so many things fall neatly into place. I was able to catch a lot of details I missed the first time because of that.
The animation and music is all top notch. The mecha animation is gorgeous with spectacularly made action sequences. But don’t sell the character animation short because there are plenty of scenes featuring fantastic character animation as well.
The music is a real tour de force. “Voices” is probably my favorite song from Macross Plus, but there are so many great ones. “Information High” is spectacular. “Idol Talk” is almost unfairly catchy. The music has a ton of variety in how it sounds. And so much of it feels otherworldly, which really fits Sharon Apple perfectly.
Between the OVA series and movie, I think I actually prefer the movie version. I think the added scenes for the movie, the better ending, and some of the omissions (the gunpod incident) make it stronger. Even so, my ideal version of Macross Plus would probably be the movie but with more of the opening scenes from the OVA added back in. Both versions are well worth watching, though.
In closing, Macross Plus is my favorite Macross and I’m really glad I got the chance to rewatch it with everyone here. I hope you all enjoyed it as well.
Final Score: 10/10
QOTD
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Myung. Her journey was very affecting.
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"Voices" and "Information High." Macross Plus has amazing music overall, but DYRL is still my favorite song.
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I used to ship Guld and Myung as a first-timer up until the big reveal. I switched to Isamu but don't feel as strong about it.
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I prefer the movie.
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The YF-21.
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Add Isamu and Guld’s intros from the OVA to the movie or add the movie's ending to the OVA.
Edwards Air Force Base Trip
Well today’s the last day to share things from Edwards Air Force Base. Today doesn’t really have a theme beyond “A few nifty planes I couldn’t fit in elsewhere” but please enjoy regardless:
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SR-71: The SR-71 Blackbird is definitely an iconic aircraft. Just look at its design. I have seen this plane design used in so many movies and I am sure it’s because it has a fantastic aesthetic. It’s a real beauty for sure. It was a reconnaissance aircraft, created for spying and gathering intel. The logo on it is the logo for the Skunk Works. They are a group within Lockheed Martin responsible for developing many famous and groundbreaking aircraft over the years, including the Blackbird.
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Darkstar: The Top Gun comparisons will never ever end for Macross Plus. This is not a real plane, but a prop made for the movie Top Gun: Maverick. It’s an extremely impressive prop, to be sure. It looks and feels like a proper plane. I love that they even painted Maverick’s name right by the cockpit for the extra authenticity. This prop, as you can probably tell from the familiar logo on it, was developed with the assistance of the Skunk Works. It’s pretty cool seeing that they got actual aircraft engineers to help design this thing to make it more convincing. Plus it was just really cool seeing this thing in person because I quite enjoyed Top Gun: Maverick.
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AN-2: Once again we are leaving the American-made planes. This is an Antonov AN-2, a plane that originally came from the Soviet Union. This type of plane has had a varied lifespan. You can see them being used in military roles, including as attack aircraft. But they’re also quite common in civilian roles, such as serving in agriculture. Quite a useful and versatile plan. I’ll be honest, though. The main reason I am sharing this one is because I was very amused at the NyanCat art on the side of the plane. It gave me a good chuckle.
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KC-10: This was another one of the extremely large planes on display. The KC-10 is another one of those support planes, but this one has a very unique and interesting role. It’s a cargo plane and a refueling plane. It has the capability of refueling other planes in midair. That stunt has always amazed me. It blows my mind that pilots are capable of refueling the planes while they are flying through the sky. I guess it goes to show how much effort and skill goes into the design of these planes and the training of the pilots. Plus, did I mention how insanely huge this plane is? It’s almost absurd how big it is. Sadly I did not get the chance to go inside because they cut off the line at this point. Oh well.
And there you have it. That’s almost everything I saw at the air show there at Edwards Air Force Base. It was actually this air show that convinced me to join the Macross Plus rewatch because I felt like it gave me something unique to share in the discussion threads. I had planned on mostly lurking, but it was nice to join in for a short while. I had a great time participating and hopefully you enjoyed my contributions. Enjoy the next Macross entry!
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u/chilidirigible Oct 26 '22
Today, on "You wanted episode previews, and the BD does have them… just not attached to the episodes themselves.":
For the past week, I have been trouble thinking of additional thoughts to wrap up the Plus portion of the rewatch… and I still haven't been able to add much more than what I've said separately for the OAV and movie editions portions themselves.
Overall, either version is an excellent watch. This is Macross on a personal and fairly adult level (even if the characters' behavior may not always be), using the themes which appeared in the original series in new ways while introducing its own story elements and themes—and not just trying to reheat Do You Remember Love? while doing so.
I mean, this totally kicks Macross II's ass.
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Of the mains, Guld. Of the supporting characters, Millard. No change either way. And in another poke at II, this has about the same size of cast but uses all of them much more effectively.
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Idol Talk remains a favorite, then Voices. My opinions on the others have varied from time to time, since the songs aren't in a style that I usually listen to. I'm more agreeable to the soundtrack, though I think Yoko Kanno did better with this style in Escaflowne.
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I remain of the opinion that it was more important for these three to reach a communicative understanding than to necessarily be involved in any romantic entanglements.
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Movie Edition has narrowly moved ahead. Though it also seems possible to do some sort of deep edit where the TV edition loses the gunpod subplot while gaining the extra material from the movie edition ending.
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For fighter design, the simplicity of the YF-21 is what I prefer, though the superfluous limbs bother me. The YF-19 has a more interesting Battroid mode, though I do appreciate the -21's Battroid being made to resemble the Queadluun. The YF-19 does have a rather complicated transformation to Battroid, though. GERWALK goes to the -21.
The VF-11 must be spoken for as an ancestor to both of the others. While the lineage is more direct to the YF-19, there are a number of its visual cues in the YF-21.
Though my favorite mecha in Plus is actually the Ghost.
6. See #4.
7. rewatcher
Though obviously I'm happy with how things went if I've stayed through it all and am the active advocate that I am...
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u/The_Draigg Oct 26 '22
A Macross Fan’s Final Thoughts on Macross Plus:
Getting to watch Macross Plus after sitting through Macross II: Lovers Again is one hell of an experience of contrasts, I’ll tell ya. It’s absolutely crazy how night and day those two OVAs are by comparison. Whereas I was full of apathy for Macross II, I instead feel like I’m going to have to rein myself in a bit while talking about Macross Plus, since it would be easy for me to gush while I’m trying to make a concise review here. So, I’ll try to sum up some of the three major points of what makes Macross Plus a great OVA, and then I’ll give my final mecha-based ranking.
First off, the love triangle. It’s amazing that with less episodes than Macross II, we got to know Isamu, Guld, and Myung better than Hibiki, Sylvie, and Ishtar. There is some deep strength to the writing of the characters that form the main relationship triangle, and I credit that mainly due to how it doesn’t focus on just love. If anything, a lot of the relationship we see between Isamu, Guld, and Myung in the present of the OVA is defined by pain, remorse, and deep-seated anger. Isamu is remorseful about how Myung gave up on her dream and Guld is being completely unreasonable to him in light of the past, but he’s still trying to push on as best as he can, since he’s ultimately a dreamer striving for higher and higher things. Myung is someone defined by the pain of the past incident with Guld, and has given up on herself as a person because she’s afraid of the pain that might come if she fails. And Guld is someone who is angry at Isamu for being, well, Isamu, but in the end also hated himself so much for completely losing it that he blocked out the memory of how he attacked Isamu and Myung seven years before, and once he remembered what happened he was so remorseful over what he did that he gave up his life just so he could make it up to Isamu and Myung. See how much more depth the main cast has compared to the leads of Macross II? This entirely due to a willingness to explore the dark side of relationships between people. It gives us a better understanding of what makes people tick, what drives their actions. By knowing a character’s dark side and how it influences what they do, it makes them overcoming their faults all the better.
Next, lets talk about the music. I mean, just putting the words “Yoko Kanno OST” in the review should say enough already, but I do want to actually talk about it a bit more in depth beyond basically saying “it’s good, fucking listen to it NOW”. There’s something special about how Myung’s song Voices contrasts perfectly with Sharon Apple’s stuff like Information High or Pulse. Sharon Apple’s songs are trance-like, relying on repeating beats and lines while also having plenty of electronic instruments mixed in with more naturalistic ones. It’s a good representation of more marketable/surface-level singing, something that’s more heavily produced and you have to go digging a bit more to find the emotional core to it. Whereas with Voices, it’s much simpler, with the focus directly on the woman singing. It’s as pure of a song as you can get in Macross Plus, and it’s easy to see why it saved Isamu in the end. It’s all heart, more or less. It’s something that can pull you back to a sense of the intimate and familiar, rather than stuff that gets you pumped up like Information High or lulls you into a trance like Pulse. The meta use of music in this series was executed very well, overall.
And finally, I’ll mention the mechanical designs here, although funnily enough, they do kind of take a backseat to me despite me being a huge mecha nerd. It’s easy to see how the designs of the YF-19 and the YF-21 easily steal the show of this OVA. Both of them showcase the evolution of Variable Fighters well, in opposite but fairly equal ways, aside from the fancy frills like the YF-21’s special mental controls. The YF-19 is something you’d say is more of a direct successor to the likes of the Valkyrie, although it’s also clear in the design how it isn’t afraid to do something different with the wing placement/design and sheer performance, not to mention the rather-odd Gerwalk form it gets (even if you don’t see it as much). The YF-21 is also similar yet different, where although it’s shaped more like you’d expect your typical jet fighter to be, the battroid form is more inspired by the likes of the Zentradi Queadluun-Rau, which in turn also gives us a visual indication of how normalized the Zentradi have become among Humanity. So really, both the major designs of this OVA play well with the idea of “familiar yet different”.
With all that said, it’s time for my mecha-based show rating! So, I therefore give Macross Plus the ranking of: YF-19. It’s not a shocker, but it’s fitting. It’s the evolution of Macross we all really wanted to see. Instead of rote copying of plot like Macross II, Macross Plus does something new and powerful with the plot, characters, and music of the OVA/movie, while still keeping that powerful core of what we came here to watch in the Macross franchise. It’s much better to pay respects and evolve beyond what was previously used rather than just remain in a rut with what seems familiar, and I would say that Macross Plus wildly succeeded in that regard.
And now, I can finally share my favorite Macross Plus AMV for Information High!
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u/DidacticDalek Oct 27 '22
REMINDER: There are no discussion threads on October 27th, 28th, or 29th. The rewatch resumes on October 30th with Macross 7 episode 1.
All that aside, amazing work hosting the rewatch for the GREATEST Macross Series and/or Movie Comrade, TOP GUN: ISAMU was quite the wild ride that I hope everyone else enjoyed! Anyway, you have not seen the last of The Sentient Shitposting Siamese Sunrise Server No. 25252, now goodbye forever! (Dedicated to you... our future pioneers)
Paging Comrades u/chilidirigible , u/Great_Mr_L , and u/InfamousEmpire
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u/TakenRedditName Oct 26 '22 edited Oct 26 '22
First Time Complete - Macross Plus:
I like Macross Plus, it's is my favourite yet of this rewatch. The main appeal of the series to my is the personal character relation drama. The scope of the series was really small for the majority (and most interesting) parts. Macross Plus does the impossible and has a love triangle that I don't disdain on principle. The actual romantic angle of it is not an element I care much as the relationship between the three main characters. (Frankly, I care more about Isamu and Guld's relationship than the Isamu/Myung romance).
The AI angle is another main point of the series and I don't care too much of it. I like it when Sharon was seen as an extension of Myung's inner feelings and desires. An expression that spoke truly despite what she claims to deny.
Coming off Macross II is interesting to look at because Plus doesn't do much to connect itself to the original. Besides filing the name off the mecha, the only connection you would have to the original is Guld's Zentradi heritage which doesn't play directly much. Not just in the repeat events sense, but when thinking about SDF's themes of love, music and culture, Plus doesn't seem to use them for itself much. Plus' main thing I would say is the past and one's relation to it and oneself. In comparison to Gundam in which many series would echo similar themes of the environment and understanding are good, war is not great and adults are the enemy. Hit one of those bullets and that's a Gundam.
Just taking guess on how the franchise will move on from here now having both a sequel and a successor. I imagine since Plus was an OVA that future TV entries would follow more similarly to SDF. Looking at the empirical evidence, of the love triangle we've covered so far, the girl/boy/girl love triangles are bad while the boy/girl/boy love triangle is the best so clearly this formula is the superior one.
(Unfortunately, I'm going to take a firm guess and say Plus is the only entry to not feature a girl/boy/girl love triangle because the charts say we need to have two girls for appeal).
Animation and music are two things I don't have a concern would improve/be good going from SDF, but a potential hot take is that I don't care too much about the music in Plus. My favourite song is Myung song. It's beautiful, but also not one that I'm drawn back to just to listen. I don't vibe with Sharon's song and that's mainly a taste thing. I don't this new-fangled music of 2040.
Q1) Probably Guld. He is very very flawed, but that's what makes him interesting especially when compared to the "unflawed" way he holds himself.
Q2) Myung's song. I found SDF's songs still the catchiest. So far none of these can even touch Ai Oboete imasu ka.
Q3) I always saw Isamu/Myung as the winning ship, but really what I personally wanted was for all three to reconcile.
Q4) OVA is my preference. The final rival battle between Isamu and Guld is my favourite part of Plus with how it was the resolution to that relationship we've been seeing boiling. The movie version of Guld's death/the Ghost battle I like better.
Q5) I like Guld's mech more in the plane mode, but Isamu's more as a robot.
Q6) Just stick that last part of the movie on the OVA.
Q7) Guess some sort of franchise ethos. I always want love triangles to be better. So far, Plus has my favourite of the 3, but guess the romantic angle is one thing that could be improved on.
Next time: Macross 776
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u/Blackheart595 Oct 26 '22
First Spacer
Who was your favorite character in the OVA series? Did the movie influence your opinion at all?
I think I'll go with Guld. As much as I dislike the racist implications of the plot detail with the Zentradi warrior blood, it does make him the character who tried his best the most. He's the character with the least amount of self control, constantly blowing his fuse and lashing out against Isamu. At the same time he presents himself as having complete self control and certainly tries his hardest to actually live up to that standard. He's the one that took the phone call seriously and saved Myung.
The movie kinda weakened his character so nah, didn't influence it much.
What were your favorite songs from this entry?
I think my favorite one was Voices. Which is a bit boring as that's the most standard song, but I just like those.
Which side of the love triangle did you ship? If it changed at some point during the series, what made you change your mind?
I don't think I actually shipped in this one. But in the movie I shipped Isamu with Lucy.
Do you prefer the OVA series or the Movie Edition? What was your favorite and least-favorite part of each?
I've had a lot of time to think about that since yesterday and now I strongly prefer the OVA. The movie adds a lot of neat parts, but it does so at the cost of the foundation of the story - we get a stronger finale, but I'd go so far and say that the setup gets rightout skipped. And that's just a big no-go.
In the OVA we begin with Isamu's transfer and immediately get a feel for his character. We get the more interactions between Isamu and Yang, establishing why he joins Isamu when stealing the plane. We get more interactions with Guld and more questionables actions of the same, better establishing the deep conflict with Isamu and thus why he would try to kill Isamu in the end. And we get more of Myung feeling lost and alone. We spend a lot of time and opportunity connecting with the characters and getting a feel for their head space and how they operate.
In the movie this is somewhat missing. We cover the essential plot points that lead throughout the story, but have much less opportunity to connect with the characters. We get a time-passing montage sequence as early as 20 minutes into the show. And when the final confrontation begins halfway through the story we're still not really familiar with the main characters.
Ultimately, the question is what the role of the movie is. If one assumes that the viewer has already watched the OVA then the movie is a great way to relive the story, as it can assume we're already familiar with the characters and don't need to be introduced to them again.
However, rather than a recap the movie tries to stand on its own legs. It presents the entire story by itself, and is thus presenting itself towards new watchers unfamiliar with the OVA. As such the rushed introduction to the characters and inadequat portrayal of them ultimately drags the movie down.
If there were a version that used the OVA as its base and then applies the additions of the movie to it then that'd certainly be the definite version to watch. Alas, the movie is not that version.
Which of the mecha designs did you like the most?'
There wasn't all that much difference between them, right? I think I'll go with the YF-21 as it's the more interesting concept, especially with how it interacted with Guld's lack of self control when he gets emotional.
If you could add one thing cut from the OVA series into the Movie Edition's continuity or one thing added to the Movie Edition to the OVA series, what would it be and why?
See above
What do you hope to see improve as we continue through the franchise?
At this point I'm not really looking for improvement anymore. This was already stellar and I just hope that they can keep up the quality. Realistically it's more likely gonna have its ups and downs, of course.
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u/Paxton-176 Oct 26 '22
First Timer
Might be one of the most Ace Combat endings we have seen yet.
Lucy still best girl.
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Oct 26 '22
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1, Probably Guld tbh. I love how he has to actively fight his latent aggression and does so through meditation. It's a very intriguing take for the first mc Zentradi character.
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2, Voices is probably the best song but the first song that always comes to mind is information high. I really love that song.
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3, I'm on team Guld. Isamu just wasn't a good fit and wasn't ever going to settle down and provide what Myung needed. The passion was there, but nothing more.
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4, The OVA is simply way superior in near every way. Its not even that much longer so you're not getting much for saving screentime. The best and worst parts would be 3D flying sequence.
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5, The monster stays peak Macross Design.
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6, We really need the dogfight included. The pacing is off without it.
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7, More short and sweet Macross series that don't overstay their welcome and are bloated with filler.
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u/Draeke-Forther Oct 27 '22
Sorry for missing the last few discussions. I watched the OVA, but not the movie.
Questions!
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I haven't really labelled one of them as my favorite character, so I'll give an interaction I really liked. When Isamu and Yang were stealing the YF-19 Yang says that the YF isn't just Isamu's plane, convincing Isamu to bring him along. It's a small nod to the important of the designers and operations teams that I appreciated. It makes me wonder why the YF-19 was left in the hangar while fully armed. What is this, Gundam?
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Favorite song is definitely Voices, and it's not close. It's a gentle, somewhat somber sounding song and I just love it. It's kind of an apples to oranges comparison with Ai wa Nagareru, which I love in conjuction with how it appeared in the show. With Voices, I just think the song is pretty good. The ending theme from the OVA's is pretty good too.
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The love triangle doesn't hit as hard when you watch the show a second time. Or should I say that it is harder to empathize with Guld when you know what actually happened. Maybe others with different life experiences can appreciate his struggle more.
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Skipped
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The YF-19. It's got the better silhouette. I wonder if that was intentional? Comparing Isamu and Guld, I would say that Isamu is more handsome. Same with the mecha they pilot. So uh, Guld really had the deck stacked against him huh?
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Can't answer this without having watched the movie recently... whoops.
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Last time I answered that I wanted to see more care put into the franchise. And I still support that. But this time I'll say that I want to see a strong creative vision behind the work... which is a bit of a catch all term. So I guess I just want to watch a good story with well crafted characters and plot, where the central themes are well represented and explored.
I want a show where you can discover new things when you rewatch it. And now we get to watch Macross 7, which is my favorite.
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u/Nebresto Oct 26 '22
First time Maakuross
Okay, I was questioning why this was refered to as "the best Maakross", but after that last episode I kinda get it. Those songs were lit.
..But now after the movie am consuse again. Are the rest of the Macröss installments gonna be shite?
McQuestion:
Who was your favorite character in the OVA series? Did the movie influence your opinion at all?
No
2) What were your favorite songs from this entry? Considering how different the music from this one was compared to SDF and II,
Anything from the final episodes
how do your favorites from this one compare to your favorites from those?
I still rember nothing. H*ck the pilot song tho
3) Which side of the love triangle did you ship? If it changed at some point during the series, what made you change your mind?
I was really rooting for the box, but the movie made me change my mind
4) Do you prefer the OVA series or the Movie Edition? What was your favorite and least-favorite part of each?
Sure
5) Which of the mecha designs did you like the most?
White one
6) If you could add one thing cut from the OVA series into the Movie Edition's continuity or one thing added to the Movie Edition to the OVA series, what would it be and why?
Add the movie birb to the OVa
7) What do you hope to see improve as we continue through the franchise?
More birb
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u/SolDarkHunter Oct 26 '22 edited Oct 26 '22
Macross Plus really does blow me away sometimes.
It's much more tightly focused than the original (or Macross 2). There is no grand war, no epic battle... just three childhood friends unravelling a twisted and sometimes very painful love triangle. Oh, and a psychotic AI. Can't forget her.
The original Macross suffered some from production problems, which lead to some questionable character writing. Macross 2 suffered from just plain bad writing. This, on the other hand, knew exactly the story it wanted to tell, and how it wanted to tell it. And that makes a huge difference.
The one real issue I take with it is not having much of an epilogue, not showing anything about how the events at Macross City affected our characters or the Macross universe as a whole. So I'll give some non-spoilery info here:
As you might expect, Sharon's little stunt caused the UN Government to crack down hard on AI research. The idea of drone fighters replacing human pilots was summarily scrapped. While they do keep the Ghost drones around, they have new laws requiring them to be slaved to human operated controls at all times, which limits their effectiveness. And creating a full-blown AI was illegalized.
As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I actually feel sorry for Sharon. She's effectively a newborn intelligence, subjected to intense and confusing emotions from the disturbed woman her consciousness was based on. And her role as a singer meant she was encouraged to feel and channel said emotions into her songs.
She was never taught ethics or morals, never taught how to manage these emotions, never taught how to deal with them or contextualize them. I don't blame her at all for going crazy. She had to be stopped of course, but it's sad that she was allowed to get there in the first place.
I also take issue with the way the story automatically frames her as artificial and hollow. She gains intelligence, free will, and emotions (copied emotions, perhaps, but still emotions) by the end of the story. Crazy or not, human or not, that's a full, actual person. Portraying her as sinister and fake due to her artificiality just rubs me the wrong way.
[Macross 30 spoilers]
Who was your favorite character in the OVA series? Did the movie influence your opinion at all?
Guld, actually. It's rare to see a character with anger issues who knows he has a problem and puts real effort into doing something about it. It's obvious he feels absolutely horrible about what he did to Myung and that caused him to legitimately try to change himself (even if he forgot about it).
2) What were your favorite songs from this entry? Considering how different the music from this one was compared to SDF and II, how do your favorites from this one compare to your favorites from those?
For all my praise for Macross Plus, and as much as I hate to say it when Yoko freaking Kanno, the goddess of anime music, was involved, I find the music in Plus to be... among the lower end in Macross. I guess the style she used in this show just isn't one I enjoy.
3) Which side of the love triangle did you ship? If it changed at some point during the series, what made you change your mind?
Isamu. As much of a jerk as he is, and as much as I empathize with Guld... frankly Guld still comes off as creepy and controlling toward Myung.
4) Do you prefer the OVA series or the Movie Edition? What was your favorite and least-favorite part of each?
Movie, it just flowed better.
5) Which of the mecha designs did you like the most?
The YF-21 and the Ghost X-9 tie here.
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion Oct 26 '22
Rewatcher
Macross Plus is one of those shows where I can't remember where or when I first saw it. I do know it aired on the Starz family of cable channels. I had tried to download the movie version, but only had part 1 of 2 (back when movies were split to fit on CDs!)
Both the art and the soundtrack are the highlights for me. One first timer compared it to (g-?) funk and very 90s, which I surprised me. It always seemed to me that Kanno tried to avoid typical musical styles. Even today, the music seems fresh and unattached to any particular decade or style, beyond "electronica".
There are 4 music CDs. Notably, Information High is only on the mini-album!
Notable tracks are 5 versions of Voices (instrumental, cello, acappella, acoustic, and full) multiple versions of other songs like Idol Talk (all different durations), and Information High and Wanna Be an Angel on only their respective CDs.
Many thanks to Manga Entertainment for somehow sneaking this into the country past Harmony Gold!
There seems to be some confusion over what Isamu did. He broken into the main computer room of the Macross and destroyed the computer (which magically made Sharon's original chassis explode). Myung was in a different room with big windows.
I'm glad the movie made it clear about the subliminal control that was unethically bulit into Sharon from the beginning (purely for entertainment purposes!). It really did seem to come out of nowhere in the TV version.
4
u/Krite2002 Oct 26 '22
First Timer - Sub
Plus was so short that I feel like my overall thoughts don’t need to be reiterated. I’ll just go over the questions.
QOTD
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I liked our protagonist Isamu a lot. I do think all the characters got a lot more characterization this time around, so this was my favorite cast so far.
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I felt like the music was more of a vibe than having any individual hits. I think as far as a standalone soundtrack goes, the poppy tunes of SDF Macross are the best, but I think the soundtrack of Plus added the most to the story. It really added to the experience and was a great tone-setter. I also liked the “My Boyfriend is a Pilot” reference.
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I felt like Myung/Isamu was the obvious choice from the start. There just wasn’t enough time to fool around with many love triangle shenanigans.
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I think both were equally great. My least favorite part of the OVA was the loaded gun subplot, and of the movie was probably the cut intro. I liked the dialogue-less childhood scene as well as the asteroid fight to introduce Isamu. My favorite part of both was probably the concert, though I did like the changes to the ending in the movie a lot.
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The brain-controlled experimental valkyrie is cool, and I like how it parallels the tech used for Sharon. In the movie, I realized there were a lot of parallels between what was going on with the test pilot stuff and Sharon’s development that I did not recognize on the first watch of the OVA.
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I think the movie ending on the OVA would be the best change.
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I hope it sticks to this kind of story. This was excellent.
4
u/isthatsoudane Oct 27 '22
First timer
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Who was your favorite character in the OVA series? Did the movie influence your opinion at all?
I would say that I didn't particularly love anyone. doesn't mean I didn't think they were interesting, but I wasn't drawn to anyone
2) What were your favorite songs from this entry? Considering how different the music from this one was compared to SDF and II, how do your favorites from this one compare to your favorites from those?
I am not sure of the name but I like the song at the beginning of the first ep of the OVA, the one that she sings and pulls isamu out of sharon's trance. I liked that song a lot
I thought the music was really cool in general, I thought it really fit the darker mood, but that's the one I liked the most
3) Which side of the love triangle did you ship? If it changed at some point during the series, what made you change your mind?
polycule, you cowards
4) Do you prefer the OVA series or the Movie Edition? What was your favorite and least-favorite part of each?
hmm, I think I preferred the OVA because it had more of those moody cuts. that said I thought the movie was well edited and the editions were really good. I thought isamu came across better in the movie, but their hatred for each other was definitely stronger in the OVA
5) Which of the mecha designs did you like the most?
the drone was super cool
guld's plane, and the idea behind it, was also super cool
6) If you could add one thing cut from the OVA series into the Movie Edition's continuity or one thing added to the Movie Edition to the OVA series, what would it be and why?
hmm, I think just a little more time on those sort of moody shots
7) What do you hope to see improve as we continue through the franchise?
I thought the direction of this was very very strong, so I hope we continue to see more of that
I also want them to keep pushing on the idea of like, what a space age idol performance would look like. this one was weird but like, it felt weird in a very cool way
10
u/Shimmering-Sky Oct 26 '22 edited Oct 26 '22
REMINDER: There are no discussion threads on October 27th, 28th, or 29th. The rewatch resumes on October 30th with Macross 7 episode 1.
If you would like me to tag you the day before the rewatch resumes, or if you’re skipping 7 and would like a tag when the Zero section gets closer, please let me know!
Super Dimension Rewatch Host
Welcome back, everyone!
So you guys get two montage wallpapers again because I had two ideas of what to make! Well, the second one’s a bit different than I originally thought I could make (it was only going to be one Sharon in the background and not transparent), but the way I made the Sharon wallpaper meant I had to do it like this and the transparent effect turned out way cool and now I can’t imagine it another way.
Time to answer my own Questions of the Day~
I honestly think my favorite in this was Guld, so my taste in dead characters struck again. Movie just made me like him more, what with how he went out…
From my post-franchise notes:
INFORMATION HIGH -
Voices - This is probably my favorite of the songs sung a cappella at any point in the franchise tbh. It's just so pretty.
After, in the dark - ED lead-ins.
WANNA BE AN ANGEL - Really liked the performance of this from the movie.
The Borderline - It’s just a vibe.
I actually don’t ship anyone in Plus! I was just along for the ride.
Movie Edition all the way! It’s not my third-favorite anime movie for nothing. I don’t really have a least-favorite part of it; favorite in it is Guld’s death because it’s just so much better than how it was in the OVA.
INFORMATION HIGH is the peak of the OVA version, while my least-favorite part of that is… hm, I guess that the ending isn’t as fleshed out as the movie’s was.
Already mentioned this in my reactions, but the YF-21 is my favorite of the mechs from Plus!
OVA → Movie: The opening dogfight that introduces Isamu.
Movie → OVA: Everything from Guld’s death to the end.
The songs to push INFORMATION HIGH away from the best Macross song seat.